About the Bible?

Question

You know my teacher tould me something very intresting. He said that the Bible has been Re-writen over 25 times. So how do we know what is in the "Current" Bible to be true..... And please for the love of "God" dont say Faith.... Its a BS answer and you all know it.

Erik you scared me there for a second!

palodeous
My phone did ring which is wierd... Unless your Pyscic and beign pyscic is a sign of witchcraft which is a sin. OH BURN. I so went there!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Faith.

But seriously, it likely was rewritten over and over to suit the beliefs at the time, like making Hell sound more and more awful to further scare people into believing.

Answer 2

I am not sure what your teacher told you, but the facts are...

There still exist today over 7,500 copies of the New Testament from before the time of the printing press. Of those, over 2,300 date from the first 200 years of the church. Some as close as 17-25 years after the originals.

When compared, the manuscripts are word for word identical 99.7% of the time. Of the 0.3% variations, the majority are different spellings of the same word. There are about 40 words total in the entire New Testament in which there is any dispute. (Compare that to something like Homer's Iliad - the second most document ancient book with about 640 copies. Nearly 1/3 of that book is in dispute, with over 700 lines of the poem missing.)

If the entire New Testament were to disappear, it could be recreated (except for 11 verses) using quotes in letters, other books, inscriptions, hymnals. prayer books, liturgies, etc. from the first 150 years of the church. So it is possible to know what the original texts said.

Your teacher is correct that there have 25 (or more) translations of the Bible. But each translation is made using the text in the original language. They are NOT a translation of a translation of a translation, which would make them less and less reliable. Rather each generation finds additional manuscripts, and learns more about the original languages from other sources. So that each new translation is usually more accurate and more reliable then the early ones.

Answer 3

Your teacher was incorrect.

1. The bible as we know it now has never been re-written. After the canon of scripture was established, it has been translated into a number of languages, but never re-written (unless you count the modern language translations such as "The Message")

2. We know the process by which the Jewish scribes copied the texts and know the exactness of that process. Research "Masoretes"

3. There are currently 5366 ancient manuscripts and fragments of the New Testament (compare to 643 for the Illiad by Homer, considered the most accurate secular ancient literature). Between all these, there is no deviation of any teaching between the copies, although some wording does differ slightly.

4. The difference between the 166 words of Isaiah 53, for example, from the Dead Sea scrolls (125 BC) to Masoretic Text (900 AD) is 17 letters, none of which affect any meaning or theological message in the text.

There are many other evidences, like the accuracy of the Septuagint to the Dead Sea scrolls and the Masoretic Text. See "Evidence fro Christianity" by Josh McDowell for more info.

Answer 4

Short education on the Bible: It's been re-written thousands of times since the 1st century. Because of copying errors over time there have been many errors found in the scriptures. Most old codices or manuscripts of the Bible don't all agree due to these mistakes. Remember we do not have the original writings of the bible. We don't even have the first copies of the bible or a copy of the copy of the copy etc, etc.

Before the15th century all the manuscripts were re-written by hand. In the 15th century the Bible was finally first put into print when the printing press was invented.

Bottom line: There are various bibles today and they don't all agree word for word. Another problem with the bibles we have is due to the problems with translating from Hebrew or Aramaic to Greek and from Greek to English. Due to language differences many words change meaning when translating.

So, I guess, your teacher is somewhat right. The bible has been re-written way over 25 times. Remember there are many versions of the bible and they don't all agree completely. Even English bibles don't all agree with bibles in other languages.

The very reason for not believing in the literal wording of any scriptures in the bible.

Answer 5

I am curious, did you not go and see the Dead Sea Scrolls when they were around your area? It is very well known that people from "our" time experts ... as they say... show us that fewer then two or three words were mispelled, but it was all exactly as we read it in our Bibles.....nothing had been changed.... or ideas being different.....
the Bible is a book of prophecy, history, prayer, law, counsel, and knowledge about God. It does not claim to be a scientific textbook. Nevertheless, when the Bible does touch on scientific matters, what it says is completely accurate.
And yes, I have to say faith in some ways, but the overall picture.... I study and I check things out.... questions upon questions.....
THE fact that the Bible is God’s word, not man’s, has profound implications. It means that God really has communicated with humans. He has answered many of our questions and has shown the solution to many of our problems. It also means that the prospects for the future described in the Bible are genuine. God’s Kingdom really is ruling and in time will act to remove from this earth all injustice, oppression, and suffering.
Now, the question is: What will we do with this information? At the very least, the knowledge that the Bible is God’s Word should encourage us to look into it. The psalmist promised happiness for those who do so when he wrote: “Happy is the man that has not walked in the counsel of the wicked ones . . . but his delight is in the law of God, and in his law he reads in an undertone day and night.”—Psalm 1:1, 2. So that is what I do.... I check what the Bible says and other books... I read and read.....

Answer 6

The first group of copiers took their job seriously. They counted the number of letters on a page to take care they got it right.

Though we don't have original documents, we have copies 1000s of years old. Examined, they closely match modern translations amazingly! Sometimes there are differences in how one translates a word or phrase due to current language changes or culture. Especially with english, which has words that change meanings depending on how it is used in a sentence. Comparing translations leads us to a deeper appreciation of the meaning.

Actually, this adds to a belief in God's Word being true. Something written over 1600+ years time frame and protected for the past 2000 with so little change is not man made. Dr. Phil's library will not last 2000 yrs. don't you think?

Faith comes in when it is based on the truth of Bible predictions coming true in the past so we can have faith that predictions for the future will also come true. By other things noted in the Bible existing that the writers would have no way of knowing, we can have faith God exists.

Answer 7

First of all, let me say yes the bible has been re-written and their are different translations, but there is only one thing which matters........your connection to God. It is your connection to God which will give you the true insight to God. The Lord Jesus put this way in John 14. He said when the Holy Spirit comes, He will guide you into "all" truth. So it does not matter how many times it has been re-written or the different translations. It is the Holy Spirit of God which teaches you about the Word of God. He is your personal tutor and He is the one who bears witness to the truth. Even if you did get the right tranlation, without the Holy Spirit you would not be able to understand it anyway. For the Lord said to His disciples....."The mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven have been given to you and not to them...". So, it takes a personal relationship with God to understand the bible totally.

Answer 8

The bible has been translated from one language to another so many times and in those translations are a ton of interpretations and little 'tweaks' here and there to suit the beliefs of the time. The stories in the bible are probably completely different from the original bible. And for the record I don't believe in god or any religions to do with him, I'm Wiccan. I was raised a 'good' little Christian girl and went to Catholic school in my early education years so that's why I know a ton about religion.

Answer 9

The Bible's message content is the same. verse for verse the integrity of the message and it's meaning has remained in tact. The only version that differs is the Jehovah's Witness version. They have defiled the word of God in a ever so slight manner to pull people away from the Total value of Jesus and him dieing on the cross for our sins.
The words have only been modified to make for an easier read with out all the thou art wording that can distract the reader from the message.

Answer 10

There are still many different versions of the Bible in print today. But many have still been translated from the original Greek and Hebrew texts that date back to about 300 years after it was written.
Many people however have a hard time with understanding the thee's thou's and thus's of the King James Version, so other versions have been published, such as the Living Bible, just to put it in terms that more people understand. But please dont let the number of versions put any question in your mind as to the validity of this book. God Bless.

Answer 11

Curious thing your teacher said. The bible has been translated many times into more modern language, as language changes. It has not been changed with regard to substance.

The best way of testing the validity of the bible is to study it yourself. But most people don't want to take the time, or effort, to do this. That is why so many mock what they don't understand.